Hey guys, so i am currently in this Organization and Administration of the NBA class at my university, and one of our topic discussions was "What we would do if we became the next commissioner of the NBA?" I thought what better place to bring up the topic then here on clutchfans. Our professor is currently a scout for the Cavaliers and he used to be the GM for a number of teams. Oh btw, someone did bring up Lebron and he didnt have many nice things to say.
As commissioner of the NBA, I'd work on the officiating. I'd make the evaluations more transparent, and I'd hold them accountable when they screw up.
I would take control of a struggling franchise temporarily to gain an even stronger voice within the owners in the CBA negotiations. Then I could better steer the agenda for a more equitable treatment for all teams(which would also make it easier to sell the recently acquired toxic asset) and I could also bestow more arbitrating power to myself in the future to be able to control the direction of the league exclusively without checks or balances. Oh wait, David Stern is likely already doing that. ...but seriously, it seems like the more aggressive play recently by agents/players to shape the league through what at times comes dangerously close to collusion is probably the first thing that would need to be addressed. CAA is probably not good for the league if they keep with the shenanigans they pulled this summer...maybe create some sort of certified agents union to regulate itself and prevent new guys like the CAA from upsetting the balance of agencies like they did. The ratings of Sunday afternoon games or the playoffs may benefit from the starpower of "Lakers vs Celtics vs Heat, etc" but it is probably at the expense of rest of the league and could be a long term problem if left unchecked. I would think anyone willing to be the next commissioner(don't kid yourself - Stern's going to give that job up on his deathbed) has to find a way to keep the stars sufficiently distributed across the league and if not, profits will have to shared across the league more generously than the have been. Obviously the new commissioner needs to find a way to make things profitable for everyone in the league as individual franchises can't run at a deficit forever. I also think collusion probably makes some sense for the league but at this point I think it's only discussed a negotiating threat. as a fan I personally would like to see more rivalry games between teams. I don't know how you would manufacture it(maybe guarantee certain matchups are always televised to get the players interested in playing a specific team), but every team needs at least a few key rival games they get up for each year. I think the rules around technicals for showing emotions could be loosened a bit too. Need more fired up players.
Does sound like a cool class. Hey, when I tried to look up your professor, there aren't any scouts on Cleveland who were prior GMs. Who is it?
Contract ten teams. Change roster limit to 18. Get rid of divisons and conferences. Let each team play each other four times during the regular season (=76games/team). Top 8 teams make the playoffs. Best of 7. Double elimination. Three draft rounds. Much higher level of play & far less meaningless games. Probably not smart from a business standpoint though.
(a) Who's the professor? I can never resist these threads: 1a) Expand the NBDL to a serious minor league by giving each team a Major ($150k) and Minor ($70k) unguaranteed salary exception each year to draw over the 1-and-down types that simply don't belong in college in the first place. The profile of the league would jump dramatically if the next John Walls started there and they would get far better preparation for the NBA. 1b) Institute a new rule that anyone that accepts an NCAA scholarship is ineligible for the draft for 3 years, regardless of if they stay on the team. Want to be a student-athlete? Be a student-athlete. NCAA loses the high wattage stars...but makes up for it with a return to 3/4 year star players and deeper squads. 2a) Expand the playoffs to 28 teams with a 2-round single elimination lightning format for the bottom seeds. Rd 1: Seeds 9-14 from each conference play (3 winners move on) Rd 2: Seeds 6-8 play the Rd 1 winners (reseeded) (winners reseeded as the new 6-8) Rd 3: Best of 5 format, all remaining seeds Remaining rounds best of 7, with current rules. You remove the painful 2 week, 7-game first round that exists with lightning round excitement (12 single elim games over 3-4 days). More fanbases are engaged and feel they have a chance. Top 5 seeds in each conference get rewarded with a short break. Top 3 seeds get an even bigger reward with battle weary opponents. Overall games (revenue) is about equal, but 6 additional teams get to host at least one playoff game - a boost for small market clubs. Not a single team should be giving up on a season before early April. 2b) Bottom two teams are lottery ineligible, locked into receiving picks 4 and 5. Tanking becomes the worst thing a team can do by any angle. The indignity alone of being one of only two teams that didn't make the postseason (with an outside shot of a cinderella run) is a major black eye. I'd love to toss in relegation....but that's impossible unless the NBDL really leaps up as a serious minor league.
1. I'll ban Mark Cuban and Jack Nicholson from any live games. 2. Fine Garnett One Hundred Billion dollars. 3. Lastly, NBA champion should play best of 7 series against the champion in Euro.
